Never a dull moment...

This morning I was sitting at the computer when Cole came up to me saying, "Mom, I need a string to get this popcorn out of my nose."  I asked Cole if he had popcorn in his nose and he said yes.  I got a flashlight and looked and way up his nostril there was a popcorn kernel.  I've had kids stick things in their noses before so I wasn't too alarmed.  A doctor one told me to plug the empty nostril, cover my mouth their theirs and blow.  In the past that was all it took to get things out of my kids noses.  I tried doing this with Cole with no luck. 

I called the Peditrician's office and made an appointment to bring Cole in. I am so glad there is always an office open on the weekends!  After a long wait, we were finally called back.  Cole was his jolly self and told the nurse he had a popcorn kernel up his nose.  A short time later when Dr. Bailey came he Cole told him the same thing.  The Dr. took a quick peek with his light then left the room to get some 'tools.'  He brought in a weird type of tweezers.  Cole was laid on the table with 3 of us holding him down.   It was pretty traumatic for Cole and his parents.  The Doctor made several attempts but was unsuccessful.  The doctor decided he wasn't going to be able to get it out and told us we needed to take Cole to the ER. 

We took him to Orem Community figuring there wouldn't be as long of a wait as there would be at Utah Valley.  Turned out to be the right choice, there was no one in the waiting room so we were called back immediately.  The Doctor came in and looked at Cole's nose and we told him about our experience at the Peditrician's office.  He decided the easiest and least traumatic way to extract it would be to sedate Cole and then extract it.  Cole was given a shot of ketamine.  It was described to me as a 'lights and on, but no body's home' effect.  It was amusing watching the medicine take affect on him.  He stared at his hands like he had 20 fingers.  Once he was out, they transfered him to the trauma room.  The doctor rolled him on his side and began trying to extract the kernel.  Cole yelled out, so the doctor ordered more ketamine.  When he was given a second shot, he didn't even react.  A few minutes later he began again.  The doctor used a nostril spreader, and then inserted a thin, flexiable thing in his nose.  He slid it past the kernel and then pushed the end of it, the tip expanded like a balloon and was able to pull the kernel out with it.  It took a few tries, but he got it out. 

A respratory therapist was in there giving Cole oxygen and watching his vitals during the whole procedure.  It look about an hour afterwards for Cole to wake up afterwards.  His eyes remained open the whole time, it was a little scary, his eyes were twitching a lot and moving around, but he was unresponsive.  When he woke up, the nurse asked him if we wanted oreos or fig newtons, he said, "No!, I want a donut."  They gave him the kernel in a little specimen container to take home.  He's been playing with it all night.  He has also been given a stern warning to never put anything in his nose again!  Between the 2 co-pays we made today and the bill we will be getting, that was one expensive popcorn kernel!